0:00

This Bingie beef Jerkey podcast of the Leach Report is also presented by Boons Butcher

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Shop, one hundred old Bloomfield Pike in Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location

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daily and they're family owned and operated, have been since nineteen forty six.

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Godday, everybody, welcome you in. It is the Leach Report, presented

0:18

by Bob Kat Enterprises on a big sports weekend here in Kentucky gets cranked up

0:25

today with UK Baseball, UK Men's Tennis and the PGA Championship starting at Valhalla.

0:34

Then tomorrow you're adding a little UK softball to the mix in the NCAA

0:38

Tournament. Then Saturday, even though it's in Baltimore, it's still a big

0:42

deal for Kentucky. It's Preakness Day at Pimlico, and so just a great

0:48

weekend to be a sports fan looking forward to this one. We'll talk about

0:53

a lot of this stuff today. Goose Givens will join us for his Thursday

0:56

visit justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated, and we'll lead off with Pat Talent,

1:02

who is a Kentuckian by birth and back helping out golf at Eastern Kentucky,

1:08

and we'll talk to him about the PGA being here in his home state.

1:12

One of the most accomplished golfers ever in Kentucky, so that's the guest lineup.

1:17

Wildcat News of the day is the service of Giuseppes of Lexington, Kentucky

1:23

baseball number two in the country hosting Vandy in the first of a three game

1:26

set tonight six thirty Eastern time. First Pitch UK Radio Network will have a

1:34

call with Darren Hedrick and coach Keith Madison. SEC Network Plus will have the

1:38

TV side. I assume that will be Dick Gabriel and Doug Flynn and an

1:42

SEC title on the line for Kentucky. If they sweep Vandy, they cannot

1:49

lose it. If they take two out of three, then at worst they'll

1:53

tie for the SEC championship. As Arkansas and Tennessee each remained one game behind

1:59

them. I think the Hall have Texas A and M a real tough opponent

2:01

this weekend. Believe Tennessee has South Carolina this weekend, So good luck to

2:09

coach Benngeon and company. Men's tennis number five in the country out in Stillwater,

2:15

Oklahoma taking on TCU and the Elite eight. Coverage of that will be

2:19

on ESPN Plus at two thirty Eastern or also the YouTube page for Cracked Rackets

2:25

coverage of college tennis UK football. Couple of game times have been announced and

2:30

TV coverage. The September seventh game against South Carolina will be at three point

2:36

thirty Eastern on ABC and then at nine the nine to fourteen game September fourteenth

2:43

against Georgia that will be seven thirty on ABC. Those are the only two

2:51

that have been set thus far. And as we said, Day one of

2:53

the PGA Championship at Valhalla links to the stories that we talk about each day.

3:00

You can find those on the bud Light Leach Report page at Tom leachky

3:04

dot com. Our opening segment always presented by Giuseppes of Lexington, and if

3:09

you are looking for a really just special dining experience, there's no place better

3:14

than Giuseppes. Homemade pasta, fresh seafood that they ship in handcut steaks,

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all prepared in a fantastic manner, and then you've got just a wonderful ambiance

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there at Giuseppes. A fantastic selection of wines and bourbons too. Scott makes

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a killer martini. Check it all out. At Giuseppes Lexington dot com or

3:34

open table to make your reservation. We'll be right back. Start at show

3:40

off a little golf talk on the day of the Day one of the PGA

3:44

Championship. It's the Leads Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Sir Je Pass the

3:50

top of the hour. Come to you from the Clarks Pumping Shop studio at

3:53

Lexington, Return, Refresh and refuel at Clark's all across the Commonwealth. Download

3:59

their app. Monthly specials for May go to the Club Blue and hotline.

4:03

Bring on Pat Talent. He is one of Kentucky's most accomplished golfers. Remember

4:09

of the National Senior Amateur Golf Hall of Fame, one, the US Senior

4:13

Amateur and the British Senior Amateur in successive years. And Pat, we appreciate

4:17

you jumping on with us. There's a major in Kentucky this week with a

4:23

PGA Championship starting today at Valhalla, and that's exciting for our state. Tiger

4:30

Woods is in the field. There was a time when it was Tiger versus

4:33

the field in the golf world. Is it better now that there are multiple

4:40

leading contenders for majors and instead of having Tiger be like the Yankees. Oh,

4:45

well, I'm happy that they're all well, good morning, Tom. I'm happy that they're all back playing together, you know, the other guys

4:51

from the l IV and the regular tour, and it makes it much more

4:56

exciting when you get guys I kept Destin Johnson and d Chambeau to be able

5:01

to compete. But yeah, it's great watching them and they all seem to

5:05

be pointing and peaking at the right time. You know, you got McElroy

5:09

just one and kept to just one, and and Cheffer won four out of

5:13

five, and you know, so there's there's a lot of anticipation for who's

5:17

gonna win. How do you think it's going to shake out with live in

5:21

the PGA Tour and eventually hopefully getting everybody back under the same tent. Well,

5:29

I was disappointed that Jimmy Dunn resigned from the board because I know Jimmy

5:33

and he's astute a businessman and I'm sure that he would have added a lot

5:40

to the negotiations. Plus he had the relationship, I think with the guy

5:43

that runs the l I V. So that's probably a setback, but I

5:47

think inevitably they all get back together. There's you know, they got to

5:50

figure out a way to get these guys all playing against one another. You,

5:58

I said, played all throughout your your life. A great basketball player

6:00

too. We'll get to that in a bit. But when you just watch

6:05

golf, who do you most enjoy watch watching play? Well, that's a

6:11

good question. My wife asked me that all the time, and who you're

6:13

rooting for? I said, well, honey, I just like to watch.

6:15

It's amazing to me the level of play. You know, I was

6:20

just looking yesterday at the stats from back in the days when I was,

6:26

you know, a young guy in the eighties and Norman was the was the

6:30

best player in the around. And you know, he hit the ball,

6:33

he never drove it. His average never exceeded two hundred and eighty yards off

6:39

fatigue and McElroy he's been he hasn't been less than three hundred and ten yards

6:43

in his career. So, you know, the golf ball and the technology

6:46

has really changed the game dramatically. And watching these guys play today, I

6:51

mean how far they hit the ball? You know, I see it.

6:55

I played in you know, six Senior opens and a whole bunch of tune.

7:00

I guess Usam's and I played with these guys and it's amazing how much

7:03

further the ball goes now than it used to and how much better they are.

7:09

Yeah, golf is such the dividing line is so fine. You know,

7:16

a good friend of mine's an excellent player, shooting the seventies, and

7:19

he always would talk about if he played in the tournament, he could play

7:25

the same course and shoot eighty two where he shot seventy two the day before,

7:29

just playing, you know, by himself at a practice round. The

7:31

managing the mental part of it is, so is it greater in that sport

7:38

than in others? Well? I always compared it to shooting foul shots.

7:43

You know, when you play basketball, which I did, you getting up

7:48

with getting foul shots to win games or you know, or to keep games

7:54

close, and you have time to think about it every single shot. You

7:57

know, when you're just playing basketball jump shots and that it's more of a

8:01

reaction and everything. But when you actually have a foul shot to shoot,

8:05

you have time to think about it, think about the bad set stuff and the good stuff, you know. And golf is like that, except every

8:11

single shot is that way. So it's like every single shot is a foul

8:16

shot, and you have to think about what you're going to do and why

8:18

are you going to do it, and you know what the repercussions can be.

8:20

So there's a lot more pressure, I think in golf NonStop throughout the

8:26

round. You're also in the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame. Your

8:31

brother Bob played the UK for a time, and I think there were four

8:35

brothers that were all great players. You played at Maytown and I remember Maytown

8:41

High School, Floyd County, but I had forgotten this. I was just

8:46

doing a little research yesterday and I came across a highlight where Maytown upset Clark

8:54

County in the nineteen sixty nine state tournament. Clark County was number two in

8:58

the state, up in the tenth region. So I know about the Clark

9:03

County history, and that was that was quite a moment for a small school

9:09

in Floyd County. Well, nineteen sixty nine, you know, that's that's

9:15

what is that fifty four fifty five years ago? You know, that's a

9:18

long time ago. And yeah, I was a sophomore that year. I

9:22

ended up making the All state tournament team and we Maytown. That's the best

9:28

may Town ever. Did you know my brother had been on the team four

9:33

year two years earlier that went to the state tournament. That was the first

9:37

time Maytown had ever gone to the state tournament, my brother Mike, and

9:41

they won one game, I believe, and lost a second and then we

9:43

uh we went two years later. You know as a I was a young

9:48

guy. I was a sophomore, but we were able to be Clark County.

9:52

Then we lost to Louisville Central. You know in the finals. The

9:56

Central had one of the best teams ever in high school. They had Ron

9:58

King and I do open you those guys. Yeah, they went on play

10:01

for Hugh Durham down at Florida State. Yeah, and they were a great

10:05

They were a great team, and they beat us and then they won by

10:07

forty I think in the finals against Ohio County. Yeah, And we always

10:13

said, well, we must have been the second best team because you know,

10:16

they didn't beat us by forty. So anyway, I can I can

10:20

understand that claim real quickly. Want to talk about what you're doing in eastern

10:22

Kentucky trying to elevate the game of golf in that part of the state through

10:28

building up the golf course at Stonecrest, and something that was very important to

10:33

you from your background there in eastern Kentucky. Well, you know, having

10:39

grown up down there, and I grew up actually playing sand greens at Allen.

10:45

My father was a member at Allen. I don't know what they call

10:48

it as a public course, and it was the membership was thirty dollars a

10:52

year for a family, so it was a dollar a day, was the

10:56

green fees. And they had sand greens and they would rake them in the

11:01

mornings and then we had a drag, which it's long story to explain what

11:05

that is. But yeah, I grew up down there and I know a lot of people, and it kind of just stell in my lap. My

11:11

buddy, Johnny Ray Turner, who was a state senator, and he kept

11:15

trying to get me to come back to Kentucky. I've been gone for forty

11:18

years, you know. My parents moved to Florida, and I came back

11:22

and bought a house. And this up here in this new development that didn't

11:26

have a Stonecrest. It's on the top of the mountain, a former coal

11:30

mining you know, mountaintop mining site, and they got money and they built

11:35

this golf course. It's like, it's sort of the strangest things you've ever

11:41

seen in the eastern Kentucky that they had something so nice. You know,

11:43

Normally down there you got coal trucks and you know, and little towns.

11:48

But this, this is a really great development that they've built. And the

11:54

golf course is fantastic. It's just that the city has didn't have enough money

12:00

to continue to maintain it. And so it was, you know, going

12:03

to see and when I got down there, they told me, oh,

12:07

you know, another couple of their real estate agents are telling the local residents

12:11

they better sell because it's only a matter of time. They're gonna they're going

12:15

to put this you know thing, they're going to stop doing it. And

12:18

I said, well, I can't. We can't let that happen. You know, we have to have all the money they spent on this golf course.

12:22

We have to figure out a way that we can keep this going. So I went to the city and I said, listen, I'll put the

12:28

money in it too, to bring it back to life. You know,

12:31

if you let me manage it, and if I if I'm ever successful making

12:35

any money, well split it. And so I put two million dollars in

12:41

it so far and probably probably going to put more. And uh I have

12:46

you know, been for the last year. We've been clearing trees and and

12:50

redoing bunkers and building mounds. And you know, I really in my mind,

12:56

i played golf all over the world, and I've seen great golf courses.

13:01

I won tournaments on great golf courses. And I can tell you or

13:05

any of your listeners, if you come to Eastern Kentucky and you play this

13:09

golf course, you're going to be amazed by the views and the setting that

13:15

you have there. It's in it's now in great shape. We've worked real

13:18

hard to get everything back in shape. Jimmy the Master came down the other

13:22

day, said yeah, and he said, you know, I think your

13:28

your fairways are better than mine. He's you know, he's a green superintendent

13:33

or that he advantages to the greens at Lexton Country Club. And I said,

13:37

well, that's a tremendous complim because you know, Lextern Country Club is

13:41

one of the finest golf courses in the state, if not the country,

13:46

and uh so, you know, I think we're doing really good things down

13:50

there. And uh you know, I recommend anybody that has time to drive

13:54

down the Mountain Parkway and go to Pressburg and play around the golf. You

14:00

know there's it's really a spectacular place and you ought to see it. Good

14:03

luck with it. Pat, appreciate the time, appreciate the the chat about

14:07

golf. And it's gonna be a fun weekend watching the PGA play out here

14:11

in our state. Yes, it will be. Who you picking? Gosh?

14:16

Uh. Probably kind of feels like it might be a time for John

14:20

Rahm to get his game back. I know, Shuffler's the trendy bar. Oh yeah, I'm going to go with I mean, everybody's going to pick

14:28

the top three, you know, right, I think Oberg, I think

14:31

he might be just might be his time coming out. I can't wait to

14:35

see it play out this weekend. Uh, Patt, I appreciate the time. Okay, come see me. We'll do That's Pat Talent and Stonecrest Golf

14:41

Course down in Floyd County. It's a beautiful facility. I remember the stories

14:46

when they built it and seeing some pictures and glad somebody's bringing it back to

14:50

life. We're gonna get to a quick break. The goose Jack Gibbings coming

14:54

up next justin Rowland a little later on. It is the Leads Report and

15:00

and we are coming to you from Clark's Pomp and Shop studio. We'll be

15:03

right back. Sport's presented by Bobcat Enterprises, four locations around Kentucky. The

15:09

latest one opened up in Walton, the Indo grand opening last Friday. Google

15:13

to find the one closest to you when you need to rental buy heavy equipment

15:18

like Forkliffs excavators, Bobcats tractors zero turn more for your home. Maybe they'll

15:24

take great care of you. Bobcat Enterprises, the Ghost, Jack Gibbons joining

15:28

us in the club Blue and Ile Hotline to UK Sports and we'll start with

15:33

baseball. Goose, you're a baseball player. Do you play all the way

15:37

through high school? No? I played up through my sophomore year of high

15:43

school and after that just decided to focus more on basketball. It was hard

15:50

to do both and put the time in that you needed to put in for

15:54

both of them. But yeah, I love baseball, love what coach means

16:00

doing with the baseball team where they are. Man, I tell you,

16:03

it's just amazing how well so many of the sports uh, different sports are

16:10

doing at UK when you think about tennis and yeah, uh, you know,

16:15

baseball, everything else going on. That's really really neat for our university.

16:22

Yeah, Nick's great story. I would think he'd be maybe the leading

16:26

contender for national Coach of the Year, especially if they could wrap up the

16:30

SEC title this weekend. And a couple of years ago there was the you

16:33

know talk is he on the hot seat? You know, how can he

16:37

survive? And now they've put together two back to back fantastic years and I

16:41

was impressed when somebody's kind of got them. Maybe they're back against the wall

16:45

a little bit and they come out fighting like that. And I think what

16:48

he did that was really neat is he stuck to his game plan. I

16:52

mean he he had to make some changes and maybe recruit a little bit differently,

16:56

used the portal a little bit, which has affected everybody. But you

17:02

know, he still requires the same kind of go get him and hustle and

17:07

we're gonna be just a good, solid baseball team. We're going to do

17:11

things right and it's paid off. But yeah, it's really interesting how it's

17:17

changed. And you know, if you meet Nick and you just have to

17:22

love the guy. I mean, he's a really good dude, and you

17:26

just it's a feel good story for sure. You just like what he's doing

17:30

and you like the way he's doing it. Very true. We're coming up

17:34

on the heartbreak here at the bottom of the hour. We'll keep Goose for

17:37

one more segment. Make sure if you don't already have it, to get

17:41

your copy of they call me Goose that Jack's book with Doug Brunk could be

17:45

a great gift for Father's Day, which are not too far away, and

17:49

follow at Goose Givens on social media on Twitter x and you can keep up

17:55

with upcoming book signing events throughout the summer. We'll take a quick Slrea come

18:00

back with more with Jack and then justin Rowland. Also in the second half

18:03

of the Leaves Report presented by Bombcat interested Jack Evans joining us on the Club

18:07

Blue n IL hotline. Club Blue had a successful launch leading up to the

18:15

New Era Men's basketball event. That event's actually coming up next month, but

18:18

yesterday was your deadlines. Hopefully many of you were able to sign up and

18:22

join Club Blue. Part of the NIL initiative for UK Athletics, you get

18:29

to designate what sport you would like to support with your membership fees for Nil

18:36

membership packages started twenty five bucks a month. All members are entered into the

18:40

monthly Club Blue giveaways, so there's some exciting things that will still be coming

18:44

up. If you can't join until a little later, go to Club Blueenil

18:48

dot com find out more. Club Blunil dot com an official partner of UK.

18:52

Let's get back to the Goose and Jack. I was thinking when Trentoa

18:57

joined the Kentucky programs, you get Noah Travis Perry coming in, two Kentucky

19:02

boys. They played squared off in the state championship game for Harlan County Lion

19:07

County, respectively. I don't know if there's been something like that at Kentucky

19:12

since since you and James Lee came in having been guys that went up against

19:18

each other. I mean, you were in the same the eleventh region together,

19:21

so you if not, if you'd been in different regions, you guys might have played for the state title in those days. But that's gonna be

19:27

fun to watch those two guys now team up as it was to watch you

19:33

and James team up. Yeah, you know, those were obviously great days,

19:38

you know, I talked in the book about how I actually started out

19:45

at Henry Clay and James and I were trying out for the same team.

19:52

I mean we were trying out for the team at Henry Clay that first couple

19:56

of days of tryouts. So I think a lot about some of the teams

20:02

we might have had at Henry Clay had that worked out that we stayed together.

20:07

But I changed schools. I think on that Wednesday we moved and I

20:14

started school at Brin Station on Thursday. So I had the first two days

20:18

of that week trying out at Henry Clay and then the last two days of

20:23

that week trying out at Brian Station. So I'd like to think I made

20:27

two high school teams in the same week back then, but uh, but

20:33

that would have been fun. But yeah, we had some huge battles,

20:37

and of course these two young guys coming in now. I think it's it's

20:44

gonna be. I hope it's going to be a sign of things to come

20:48

where Marcus Mark Pope is going to be recruiting the state and trying to convince

20:57

the better players in the state to come to the University of Kentucky. And

21:03

man, I hate saying those guys go to other SEC schools and then that

21:07

seems every time we play them, they come back to bite us and we

21:11

think, man, why didn't we get that guy? But both of these

21:14

young guys are both of them are great players, They're good athletes, they

21:18

shoot the ball extremely well. So that shit fit right into what Mark Pope

21:23

is going to be doing here at Kentucky. Yeah, he was a coach.

21:27

Pope was on an interview this week, I think maybe with John Rosstein

21:33

of CBS where he talked about how challenging it was to come into the situation

21:37

and have to kind of build a team from scratch, but also how it

21:42

was maybe beneficial in that they you know, sometimes you come in as a

21:47

new coach and you inherit players and you try to, you know, get

21:49

them to fit into what you want to do. But he was able to

21:52

go out and find the guys. You identify guys that would be a good

21:56

fit and now they just have to get them all the mesh once they get

22:00

here. But at least he was able to, you know, find guys

22:03

that he believes will be a good fit into what he wants to run.

22:07

Yeah, you know, as much as we uh we always talk about not

22:11

liking the portal. You know, I don't know what would have happen had

22:18

not had that available to us. I mean, it's obviously a lot easier

22:22

to build a team nowadays than it's ever been. And I think what Mark

22:27

did was he he he understood that there were needs, and obviously, when

22:33

you start from scratch, a bunch of needs. And but he didn't panic.

22:37

He went and got the guys he wanted. I mean, he he

22:41

got a couple of bigs, He's got some great shooters, He's got guys

22:45

who fit the system, and still has a couple of scholarships left to offer

22:52

to a three left to offer, so he could even enhance what he has,

22:56

and I'm sure he will there. I mean, man, he's getting

22:59

caught every day from from players who want to come be a part of what

23:03

he's doing here, so he's having to be really selective with these last two

23:08

or three. But man, I would hate to think where we would be

23:11

without that transfer portal to the NBA For a second. Dallas won last night

23:18

to go up three to two on OKC, and uh the Western Conference Finals

23:25

is definitely going to have a Kentucky flavor. Whoever gets there, because in

23:29

this series, in particular, PJ. Washington on the Dallas side, Shay

23:33

and Casey and Wallace on the ok C side. And you know, Shaye

23:37

has had a tremendous year second in the MVP voting, but PJ has has

23:41

really blossomed since going over to Dallas. Man he has played some great ball

23:48

and had double double last night and I knew, yeah, I had another

23:52

double double. I mean, he he is shoot. I mean, I

23:57

know they teach you and they were with you in the NBA to get you

24:02

to become the kind of shooter he has become. But I don't know that

24:06

I saw that coming. Tom He was a good athlete and ran, he

24:11

jumped at some good stuff, but I didn't think he would be able to

24:15

shoot the ball like he's shooting it. And you're talking about between what he

24:21

has done and you know, my favorite guy, Tyrese MAXI. You know,

24:26

I know they're out, but those are my two favorites of all the

24:30

guys in the league because of just how they have become. But I never

24:36

thought you would see PG shooting the ball the way he's shooting it and playing

24:40

as effectively. It's all about man, where you are. I say that

24:44

all the time in the NBA. Man, if you can get with the

24:48

right team, you can become a really important part, just as he has.

24:55

But it's been fun to watch the play I mean, they've had some

24:59

great game, oh really really good games throughout the playoff series. And whoever

25:04

advances out of that, you're going to get either you know, Jamal Murray

25:07

or Karl Anthony. On the other side, looks like the Nuggets are trending

25:12

to get it on that side, not as much of a Kentucky flavor and

25:17

headed in the Eastern Conference. But we'll see how it all plays out.

25:21

Goose, thank you as always to I'm good talking to you. That's the

25:25

Goose. Jack Gibvens and I want to take a second remind you about the

25:30

Committee of one oh one. Those are the men and women in the blue

25:33

coats at games and they are looking to add some depth to their team.

25:40

If you'd like to be a part of a great organization of big blue fans

25:45

that want to do whatever they can to help the UK athletics programs, you

25:49

can email UK one oh one Membership at gmail dot com or go to their

25:53

website. The Committee of one o one dot org and get additional information application

26:00

on how to join and what the process looks like, so that if you

26:03

are looking for a way to get connected to UK Athletics, no better way

26:07

than the Committee of one oh one Quick Break Justin Rowland and Cats Illustrated coming

26:14

up next here on the Leach Report, presented by Bob kat Enterprises. Justin

26:18

Rowland joins the program on the Club Blue Nil hotline. You can read him

26:22

at Cats Illustrated dot com, follow on social media X or Twitter at Roland

26:29

Rivals start with a little football Justin and Kentucky picks up a transfer from Tennessee

26:37

Martin who was All America at the FCS level as a punter but also had

26:42

field goals and kickoff specialist. And Kentucky has a solid guys as far as

26:48

the field goal kicker. But I thought, I think the punting and the

26:52

kickoff rolls could certainly use some competition. So I thought that was a big

26:56

pickup. Yeah, Aiden Lauros, And it had gotten far enough into this

27:00

last portal wave that you're starting to kind of wonder, Okay, well are

27:03

they going to make a move or not, And to come out with an

27:07

FCS All American and you just look back at last year. Eight punts fifty

27:11

point two yard average at Georgia between the hedges last year, So he's at

27:15

least got it in him, and he's got a track record, and you

27:18

figure if he can do it at that level, there's no reason why that

27:21

won't translate to the SEC. So this seems like a big pickup. I agree, yeah, Kaseecky. I think always one of the best examples was

27:26

Andy Smith in ninety nives a year after Couch and Yeaston, those guys left

27:33

and Kentucky got to a Bowl game when it wasn't expected to and a big

27:37

part of it was the field position battle that they won with an all SEC

27:41

punter, And Kentucky's likely going to be most years in a lot of games

27:48

that get decided, you know, in the fourth quarter, and you know,

27:52

a few extra yards of field positioned throughout the game is huge. Absolutely.

28:00

I don't have any any like stats or anything to back this up,

28:02

but it feels like growing up it was more common to see the kicker talent

28:07

kind of just more widely distributed. You'd see kickers that want to go places

28:11

that maybe aren't the best school where they're going to kick a lot of field goals and opportunity, And it feels like Alabama figured out a few years ago

28:18

that they need a great kicker every year, and all of these factories prioritize

28:22

it. And you see how Kentucky's thrown scholarships at these specialist spots over the

28:26

last few years. You kind of get yourself in a little bit of trouble,

28:30

but you know what you're getting with this guy, and that's a big

28:32

help. They lost a running back commitment Isaiah wes Is was that because of

28:37

the one they'd picked up from Davis. It certainly didn't make it any easier

28:42

to hold on to him. Now. I think anytime you're talking about Ohio

28:47

State, they're going to have a lot of clout. But Kentucky was not

28:49

going to turn away Marquise Davis. Like he's one of the top ten running

28:52

backs in the country, one of the top probably five or ten players in

28:56

Ohio. He was very high on Ohio State's board as well. And so

29:00

was a situation where you're not going to turn away Marquise Davis because you want

29:03

to keep Isaiah West. And I think it's a situation where we're going to

29:07

look back and say, Wow, Kentucky had both of these guys on the

29:10

commitment list at the same time. That's pretty impressive. I think they're both

29:12

four star caliber, big time running backs. Got a couple of game times

29:17

set yesterday with South Carolina in Week two, Georgia in Week three, both

29:21

going to be on ABC, And you put a post up about what the

29:26

significance is for that South Carolina game because he's lost three times to them in

29:30

recent years, I've thought, but two of those were kind of flucish.

29:33

They Tucky didn't basically have a quarterback in two of those, you know,

29:40

any kind of an experienced quarterback. If they had played Lynn Bowden earlier,

29:45

I think they would have beat South Carolina that year, but he kind of

29:49

emerged in the fourth quarter of that game. And then last year it was

29:52

just a game Kentucky just kind of kicked away. Really yeah, well,

29:57

I mean, what was the common theme in how that's played out? Like

30:00

when Kentucky had the Big Blue Wall, Kentucky beat South Carolina and when the

30:06

last two years, when the Big Blue Wall has not been at the level

30:08

that it was at for a long time, although it was better last year,

30:12

they didn't win that game, and so that's that's the very one.

30:15

I mean, they would get a lead, they would get a seven point

30:18

lead, a ten point lead, and they would sit on it and they

30:21

would suck the air out of it and the game would disappear and South Carolina

30:25

would get eight or nine drives and it wouldn't be enough, and you never felt like they had a chance. And so that's the efficiency angle. That's

30:32

the how good is the Big Blue Wall going to be? Is Chip Tram going to be able to run? Run on those guys? South Carolina's going

30:37

to run the ball out this year. They're going to mobile quarterback. They

30:41

bring in Rocket Sanders from Arkansas, though he missed half the season and wasn't

30:45

there in the spring. You figure they're going to lean a lot more on

30:47

the running game this year, and I figure Kentucky's gonna have to run to

30:51

win that game this year as well. Shift over Tuggle basketball. Kentucky's trying

30:56

to fill out its roster. They were, according to os the Bar for

31:00

a while. He ended up following his coach from Utah State to Washington.

31:04

But so you had to post about there were reports true or not that he

31:08

got two million dollars in nil to go there. You said, sort of

31:14

like when a pro team that isn't very good decides to go buy a really

31:17

good player to put some butts in the seats. Funny, but that's where we're at. But you're right, that's kind of where we're at. Yeah,

31:23

we've got this nil budget, we haven't spent it yet. We don't

31:26

know how good we're going to be, but this is going to be a

31:29

splash get that'll keep the fans dialed in and get some season tickets sold and

31:33

there will be excitement and justification for what we did in the off season.

31:36

I'm not saying that that's specific to Washington, but yeah, there's some of

31:38

that. And you're kind of, I think in a situation now with all

31:44

with how the transfer portals, how big it's gotten that you as a coach,

31:49

I think a lot of it is is kind of like you know an

31:52

NBA GM or coach where you know you're you're looking for, you know,

31:57

a rotation piece, a guy who's can fill a roll coming off the bench

32:01

for you, and you go, you know, get him out of the

32:04

portal. It's Kentucky's you know, probably a guy they're courting right now from

32:09

the young man from alman or from Fairleigh Dickinson. Probably not going to be

32:13

a starter, but could be a you know, a key, extra,

32:17

big guy in your rotation. That's right. Yeah, that's the difficulty I

32:22

think for a lot of people in assessing the roster this year because you're not

32:27

you're not starting with eight guys and now we fill out the roster. It's

32:30

it's one long work in progress where you're putting the whole thing together at once,

32:34

and so not every guy is gonna be your leading scorer or a top

32:37

three score or even a starter. But once you look at all the pieces

32:42

together, that that's what you're looking at. And I think you can fairly

32:45

say do they need a star? Do they need a star a guy that can drop thirty you know when Kentucky plays Tennessee. Man, it's fair to

32:51

say. And that's why they're recruiting some of these guys that are out there.

32:54

But yeah, it's gonna it's gonna be infuriating to some fans. I

32:57

think when they say, well, why doesn't this kid just go to Kentucky?

33:00

Why is he going to go to Minnesota State for instance, Well,

33:05

that's the nil era, and that's just something you got to deal with. Pro teams have been dealing with it, so yeah, it's a very interesting

33:10

era. And some players are going to be motivated primarily by chasing the dollars.

33:17

Others might sacrifice. I don't have to have the most money. If

33:21

I can be in the right spot, I think that's usually the better.

33:24

The way to approach it is to make sure you think of it more in

33:28

a long term situation of you know, get what you can, but the

33:31

main thing is to put yourself in the right spot to succeed long term,

33:36

right right. I don't put any stock into the money numbers that we hear

33:38

publicly right now for a number of reasons. But it's interesting if a coach

33:43

knows what a player's offers are from the NIL side, it's going to tell

33:47

him something like if you would go here for say one point two million,

33:52

but you know it's going to be a bad situation and you're going to be

33:55

a volume shooter and it's not going to be kind of like a team apparatus.

34:01

Well, why wouldn't you just come here for a million? Look better

34:04

for your future? It's going to tell that coach something about how that player

34:07

is wired. So that's gonna be a part of the evaluation process. No,

34:09

I think that is an excellent point. Justin appreciate the time as always.

34:15

Thanks Tom, You're read them Acatz Illustrated dot Com You and his team.

34:19

David Sister does a great job of breaking down the games of the new

34:22

players that are coming in. I think the latest deep dive he did is on Brandon Garrison. We're going to get back to playing some more of the

34:30

interviews I'm collecting with people who cover the players that are coming in, the

34:35

new players coming into Kentucky, be it a beat writer or a play by

34:37

play guy, and we'll bring you some more of those. We've already heard

34:42

about Brea and o Way so far, but we'll try to get connections for

34:46

all of them over the course of the coming weeks. Right now, got

34:50

to get to a break and then come back with our final segment. Our

34:53

buddy Vinnie. By the way, Senna text reminding me Anthony Epps from Marion

34:59

County Cameron from Dunbar went up against each other in a championship game in ninety

35:02

three and then be game teammates at UK so that was a good one as

35:07

well. We're talking about Perry and Noah earlier with Goose. We'll be right

35:10

back. It's the lead report presented by Bobcat Enterprises, Stay in Wildcat History,

35:17

a service of Kentucky road shows, sports cards and memorabilia there on Robbiey

35:22

Road at Lexington at a roadshowcards dot Com this day. In two thousand and

35:28

seven, Patrick Patterson signed to play for the Wildcats and went on to have

35:36

a great career here at UK and in the NBA. Kentucky's game with Gonzaga,

35:42

according to reports, has been set for December seventh this coming season.

35:45

It'll be in Seattle. It's part of that six year deal that will hit

35:50

the halfway mark in this coming season. It'll be at Nashville the following year,

35:53

and I think we're up after that, and then finally the arena on

35:57

Gonzaga's campus. It's got a note from a listener who's headed to Valhalla today

36:04

for opening around action of the PGAs and let people know it'll take one to

36:07

two hours from the time you park until you see action on the golf course.

36:12

But his picture, he added, it looks like a fantastic crowd heading

36:15

in there. I think it's going to be tremendous crowds this weekend at Valhalla.

36:20

Looking forward to following that action and all of the UK sports with baseball

36:25

and the Big Vandy Series this weekend. We're going to try to get out

36:28

tonight to see the opener of that, and if you can't get out there,

36:31

make sure you tune in Darren Hendrick's Call on the UK Radio Network or

36:35

Gabe and Doug on the SEC Network plus coverage. Tomorrow, we'll get back

36:39

into a little more coverage of the Preakness. Dick Girardi will join us.

36:45

Oscar Comb's going to join the program tomorrow as well. We had to reschedule

36:49

Oscar from last Friday, but I want to talk about his career going into

36:52

the UK Sports Hall of Fame, so that'll be coming up on tomorrow's show.

36:57

Have a great rest of your day and enjoy the start of a great

37:00

sports weekend here in the Bluegrass. Thanks for listening to The Leech Report.

37:05

Anytime you miss a show, you can catch the Mingy Beef Tricky Podcast.

37:08

Find them at Tom Leitchky dot com or on the iHeartRadio app. Interested in

37:14

advertising on the show email Leach Report at gmail dot com. We'll see you

37:17

next time on the Leech Report.